hillbilly thomists tour

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Rockin’ Out With Dominican Friars: The Hillbilly Thomists Talk ‘Holy Ghost Power,’ Aquinas and Music of the Soul

Speaking to the lived experience of Christ, band members chat with the Register about their new album and ‘100 channels of nothing on the TV at 10. It's like diet coke and original sin.’

It has been five years since The Hillbilly Thomists released their first self-titled album that soared to the top of the bluegrass Billboard charts, offering a mixture of original music, some Americana favorites, and beautiful harmonies that never age. The band is out today with its third album, Holy Ghost Power , and the Register sat down virtually with Father Thomas Joseph White , one of the founding members of the band, alongside Father Simon Teller and Father Peter Gautsch, to learn more about this new album created in the quiet chaos of a quarantine. The band shares insights into the album, secrets about their “Old Highway Tour” kicking off this summer, and how music, since it starts in the soul, is actually one of the best ways to speak to the soul, as the Dominican friars set out to evangelize, instruments in hand. 

Father, the new album, Holy Ghost Power , out today, comes just a few short weeks after Pentecost. Is this just a coincidence? What’s behind the name of the album?

Father Thomas Joseph White : Well, it's the lead song on the album, and we wanted to  [give] an unambiguous illusion both to Americana Christian music and also to our kind of unique style of combining Catholic theology with folk music, bluegrass music.

I guess Don McLean comes to mind a little bit, with American Pie .

  Father Thomas Joseph White : He gets a reference on the album.

  Father Simon Teller : It’s a little different in style from American Pie . 

  Father Peter Gautsch : It’s more like “punch in your face” style.

So nobody is out down near the river holding anything — that’s great. Now, The Hillbilly Thomists first started at the Dominican House of Studies, situated in the presence of the National Shrine to our Blessed Mother — in an area many consider to be “Little Roma,” really, in our nation’s capital. Can you tell us about the origin of the band?

Father Thomas Joseph White: Well, I think the biggest thing was that we started playing music kind of as an amusement for fun, as a way to relax during fraternal events, sometimes on the weekends. And then a number of members of the band entered who had tremendous musical pasts, like Father Peter Gautsch, Father Simon Teller, both with us today, and Father Justin Bolger. And they really reconstituted the band, I would say, on a high level of expertise of harmonies and settings and solos, and we just started working on more complex routines and music. It was always fun, but it got a little more technical. And then when we decided to do an album, all those kinds of professional sentiments came out. The albums are always fun to record, but there’s also a wonderful seriousness about the professionalism of the people in the band based on their past experience. And so it just formed organically over time.

And Father Thomas Joseph, you play the banjo, correct? 

Father Thomas Joseph White: I play the banjo and the steel guitar and the dulcimer. Father Simon here plays the fiddle. Father Peter Gautsch plays about five or six instruments on this album: He plays the mandolin, the slide guitar, the harmonica, the guitar and the piano, to name just a few. And then we also have people who play upright bass, we have the drummer, some guitarists and so forth.

That’s wonderful. We should also get to the root of the name, The Hillbilly Thomists; some may not be familiar with Flannery O'Connor. Can you tell us what’s behind the name? 

Father Peter Gautsch : It’s a reference to a letter that Flannery O’Connor wrote. So in addition to her many short stories and her two novels, she has a collection of wonderful letters. And one of the letters, she says, “Everyone who’s read my novel, Wise Blood , thinks I’m a hillbilly nihilist. But actually, I’m a hillbilly thomist.” And, of course, as one who follows, as a sort of follower of the teaching of Thomas Aquinas and his method of theology, his approach to, kind of like sapiential approach to, theology, as really coming to understand God and everything that God creates [that makes sense]. And she loves Thomas Aquinas; she used to read him at night, when she was sort of preparing for bed, and would read some of the Summa each day and make references to his work in her letters and in other places. So she was a lover of St. Thomas Aquinas, who, of course, was a Dominican. So, we, too, are lovers of St. Thomas Aquinas; and given her sort of Southern sensibilities, in the Southern character of some of our music, being from the Bluegrass country tradition a bit … it seemed a perfect name for our group.

It’s interesting. I first spoke to then-Brother Simon Teller when the first album broke in 2017, just before the album topped the bluegrass Billboard charts. And this was when the Thomistic Institute was beginning to really thrive on college campuses across the country. You also now offer a “Tiny Thomist” program for children as young as toddlers. Of course, you are all steeped in the Summa Theologica. but not many are. If someone is interested in learning about this great saint and doctor of the Church, what do you recommend as an introduction? 

Father Thomas Joseph White: Oh, well, they should go and enroll in “Aquinas 101” online . There's a program of the Thomistic Institute that gives everybody an introduction to Aquinas in seven-minute video segments, with accompanying readings if you want them — they’re really accessible — very popular with millions of viewers. “Aquinas 101” has its own website ; you can subscribe. And everything is free. 

That’s such a great resource because so many people imagine St. Thomas Aquinas to be intangible, too high-minded thought to even reach. And all the work you guys are doing is really bridging that gap. Even with The Hillbilly Thomists, you think, is that an oxymoron? And I think that St. Thomas Aquinas can offer a real anchor right now, with so many people attempting to cling to logic, strictly knowledge or facts. And St. Thomas Aquinas did not run away from any of that — but really delved much deeper into what we can know from our heads before reaching into the heart. 

Father Simon Teller: That’s right. I think one of the ingenious things about St. Thomas is that the truth that he teaches at its heart is accessible to everybody, because it's rooted in the truth of reality. And one of the great things about Father Thomas Joseph as a songwriter is that his songs just speak directly to the lived experience of someone who’s really trying to live out their faith. So there’s a great line from the Holy Ghost Power song that he wrote: “It's 100 channels of nothing on the TV at 10. It’s like diet coke and original sin.” Everybody’s had that experience of just feeling bottomed out and … coming to feel like, where is the meaning in life? And that — the truth of St. Thomas that he teaches and God, and the Gospel — is really common sense, in a lot of ways. And also, I think that we’re surprisingly, like, in a large part a children’s musical group, just because so many families listen to our music. … We get emails from theologians who are really excited about The Hillbilly Thomists, and we get a lot of emails from home-school moms who are really excited about The Hillbilly Thomists.

It really goes to show the range and the full accessibility and the real heart. I think one thing that’s unique about this album was that it was created in the midst of a pandemic. And you also released an online “Quarantine Sessions,” where you all are creating music in isolation, really, including this beautiful song Seeing, Redeeming Love . And what a moment to watch this, as you see all of you playing together. The moment when you all come in listening, waiting to be in harmony together from your separate quarters, your distant cities, all finding the same pulse. And I just thought, “What a true testimony to the living Christ who is brimming in all of us, just waiting to come out.” And I think that really touches on what you’re saying: about the core unit of the family and what we’re trying to create together as community.

Father Thomas Joseph White : I think that’s a beautiful observation. One thing we find in the band is that working together as brothers in the same religious society, where we pray together during the day and break for prayer, and also have to, of course, cook together and do the whole production as a team is that it deepens our fraternal life and our sense of our kind of Christian communion. It’s interesting to go from Eucharistic communion into a studio and try to work together on songs that we love and that we want to be creative about and professional about. And that is a kind of just pure gift of fraternal creativity for the Church and also for our own Dominican life. So we feel that very deeply, and we’re really touched that so many home-school families have chosen to prioritize the music in their own life, for their children, as a resource for them.

Hillbilly Thomists from Blackfriars Media on Vimeo .

Shifting back to the album, there’s a beautiful song called Good Tree . Can you tell us the inspiration behind this song? 

Father Peter Gautsch : Father Justin Bolger wrote that song, and he is here in Providence with Father Simon and myself; he’s the head chaplain of campus ministry here, and he and I have played a lot of music. The two of us, since we’ve both been together in campus ministry this year, we were sitting down. I guess it wasn’t too, too long before we got together to record last summer. And he said, they wanted to show me this new song. He just had his guitar — it was a fairly simple arrangement of the song and very catchy, and so he just listened to it a little bit and played around with it a little bit and, and, I said, “Well, we’ve got to record this with everyone.” And so when we all came together to record, it really grew. So the version of it that’s in that video, which we put out a few days ago, is a live recording: You’re seeing us performing the song, as you’re hearing it. And so it’s slightly different audio than the album version, which really does grow into this really kind of triumphant sounding [song]. It’s a very joyful-sounding song. And it’s full of the joy of the Gospel. I think this is one of the things I love about this song: that it’s for the joy of the Gospel. It’s very rich in the way that it uses this imagery from all over Scripture about the tree, which is nourished by the living waters and provides shade for the birds of the air … but it also has this hope that I want to be this good tree. The refrain of the song is: “Oh, to be a good tree, oh, to be a good tree.” … And so it’s a beautiful combination, I think, of the joy of the Gospel and of the joy of the hope that we have in the grace of Christ, who transforms us to be “good trees.” So I think it’s a real testament to his songwriting and also just to the richness of the Gospel.

I have to say, I own the other two albums, but the first one is definitely my favorite — so many songs of Americana being shared — but I think my favorite is perhaps a song, I believe, written by Father Justin also, I’m Just a Dog for My Lord. I have that album on in the car all the time. And my daughter loves it. It’s just a real heart-filled moment in the car, and the lyrics: “spreading fire while I got Earth… and how you wish, it was already lit …’ but here you are still working away. There’s such a steadfast trust shared in that song. But speaking of dogs, can we dig into why the Dominicans are known as “Hounds of the Lord”?

Father Thomas Joseph White : Absolutely. So the background for that is that, apparently, Blessed Jane of Aza, the mother of St. Dominic, had a dream right before he was born, that there was a dog kicking in her womb. And then she saw in the dream the dog, after it was born, so to speak, running around Europe with a torch in its mouth. And this is seen as a prophetic dream of St. Dominic, who would be one of the first mendicant friars traveling from place to place, preaching the Gospel; “Hound of the Lord,” going abroad and bringing the fire of the truth. Now, it’s also the case that, in Latin, Dominus (Lord) and canis , the word for “dog,” can be put together so you have Domini Canes or “Dogs of the Lord.” The pun plays off of the title for the Dominicans.

How fascinating — just even knowing that song now, it just speaks much more loudly. Now, The Hillbilly Thomists have also just released tour dates for “The Old Highway Tour.” Can you tell us about it? I feel like this is the epitome of the New Evangelization: rocking out with Dominican friars. 

Father Thomas Joseph White: The whole notion of “The Old Highway Tour” comes from one of the songs on the album, Old Highway . This is a song I wrote which is sort of a story of mystical Vagrant, for lack of a better term, who is a person who has abandoned his ordinary social responsibilities to travel America and find God. So it’s a somewhat zany song, although it has a kind of a, I think, haunting resonance to it. There’s a slight homage, perhaps, to Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash in the album, in terms of the style, and Peter has a tremendous solo on the slide guitar in the midst of this piece. So it’s a haunting traveling piece about driving west on Highway 66 in America. The band just spontaneously named the tour after this idea of traveling, seeking God, playing music, that kind of thing.

And this is the first tour for the band? 

Father Simon Teller : This is our first tour, so we’re really excited about this, because before, a couple of years ago, before the pandemic, we would play at Appaloosa , in Virginia, and we would do a couple local shows around D.C. every once in a while. But we’ve never really had any sustained public performances. And this is really the first time that we’ll be putting on true concerts. … This will be our first tour, and we’re really excited about it because we can also bring our music to places outside of the D.C. area, which is where the band came together from the Dominican House of Studies. We’re going to, like you said, New York; we’re going to Cleveland, to Cincinnati, to Nashville, to Chicago, to Pittsburgh. … It’s really great to be able to bring our music to the people who love it.

As you all eloquently state on the press release for the tour: “A band like none other, The Hillbilly Thomists remain friars, preachers even when on the stage, a dynamic that promises to give each show a spiritual itinerary of its own, passing through this world below unto the bright land of that new city lit by the Lamb.” Can you speak a little bit about that kind of witness?

Father Peter Gautsch : Well, I think that in this next album, most of the songs are original songs, which has given us some more freedom as preachers to preach with the music that we perform for people and that we record. Because there’s some good things to meditate on. And a lot of the Americana standards, and the ones we chose for our first album were chosen for that reason. But to be writing our own songs and performing those now for people more has given us, I think, increased a number of avenues for reaching people. And so … the ability to bring music to people on a tour, as a certain mode of preaching … we do remain friars, preachers, even when we’re on stage; it is really exciting to be able to both bring the music that we’re really excited about to people, but to preach to them. That’s what we’re called to do. It’s said of St. Dominic that he always spoke to God or about God, and he encouraged his brothers to do the same. So as much fun as the music is, we intend it to be spiritually edifying for people and helpful. And we’re hoping that the tour will be an occasion for us to be able to do that through the music.

A big theme of the Pope’s latest papal document focuses on liturgy. How do you think the mission of The Hillbilly Thomists may help draw attention to the importance of music, in our own faith lives as well as even at Mass?

Father Simon Teller: Like Father Peter said, our music is a preaching ministry of our province, of the Dominican province of St. Joseph, and one of the great things about this preaching ministry through music is that it shows the different ways in which music can function within the Christian life. … There’s music that we use in our formal liturgical worship. But there’s also ways in which we just sing to praise the Lord. There’s music that functions within the Christian life outside of the liturgy. And I think that that’s where, definitely in our Dominican tradition, we place The Hillbilly Thomists kind of music, where, it came from our fraternal life of playing music together, in the recreation room, and I think we really bring it into other people’s living rooms and into their hearts in that way.

As you all know, here, of course, in this country, the United States, Roe v. Wade was just reversed. And we have the country here half celebrating, half mourning, or worse: vandalizing Catholic churches as well as pro-life pregnancy centers. We are a bit fractured at the moment in our own country. And music holds such a power in bringing people together, and your music is quite a testimony to that. Improvisation is also such an important part of a jamming band. You all ultimately find the same pulse, but it might take a few seconds to get there …

Father Thomas Joseph White : When we play music together, the creativity of one person spurs the creativity of another, and one of the things that’s obvious about this whole process for us is that when we bring material, whether it’s songs or solos, or ideas, you can find the complementarity, leaping out of another person’s creative imagination and then taking the thing further. And so the compilation of everyone playing together is far more profound and rich than any singular effort. But I think that that’s true in general about cooperation among human beings in creative and political life. Inviting people to collaborate with the Catholic mission in the Catholic Church and inviting people in the broader culture to collaborate in the renewal of culture is a key theme in our own Catholic lives, and music is a way that you can go beyond some of the normal frontiers of conversation about morality, politics and religion and enter into another kind of conversation, another kind of collaboration around the enjoyment of Beauty and the celebration of life that’s embodied in human music.

Well, that is a beautiful note to end on, Father; thank you all for joining us today — and thank you again for your music that inspires and uplifts so many. 

Father Thomas Joseph White: Thanks for saying that. That means a lot.

• hillbilly thomists
• dominican house of studies
• father thomas joseph white
• father peter gautsch
• father simon teller
• bluegrass music

Alyssa Murphy Alyssa Murphy is the Register's Managing Editor of Digital Assets. Starting her career on the airwaves in San Francisco, she has worked in all facets of media. Alyssa enjoys writing and covering stories that inspire and uplift. Register readers may be familiar with her voice from EWTN radio's Morning Glory. Alyssa currently lives in New Jersey just outside Manhattan with her husband Andrew and young daughter, Annabelle.

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The Hillbilly Thomists

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The hillbilly thomists, in support of the chesterton academy.

The Hillbilly Thomists: New Album and Summer Tour

Dominicana Records proudly presents Holy Ghost Power —a new album from The Hillbilly Thomists!

The Hillbilly Thomists are a band of friars from the Order of Preachers. In 2017, their debut eponymous album reached #3 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart. Five years later—and on the heels of their 2021 album, Living for the Other Side —the friars returned to their makeshift recording house in the Catskill Mountains for a new purpose: Holy Ghost Power . 

With this new record of original songs, The Hillbilly Thomists keep one foot rooted in the Blueridge foothills of Bluegrass and Americana while stepping across the Mississippi into the land of New Orleans delta blues and old Western country. Flowing from the Dominican friars’ life of contemplation, study, and preaching, the thirteen tracks of Holy Ghost Power sing of redeeming love and old-time religion, Diet Coke and Original Sin, pilgrimage and the sweet prospect of the life that awaits beyond the River Jordan’s stormy banks. They’re songs for people who are made of a little bit of angel and a little bit of dust.

The album is now available for purchase .

Following the release of this new record, this summer the friars will also be taking their music on the road. Spanning from July 27 to August 4, The Old Highway Tour will be the first continuous series of public shows by The Hillbilly Thomists. 

Starting at the band’s birthplace in Washington, DC (July 27), the friars will make their way through Pittsburgh (July 28), Chicago (July 29), Cincinnati (July 31), Nashville (August 1), and Cleveland (August 4), with a tank full of songs, old and new. A band like none other, The Hillbilly Thomists remain friars preachers even when on the stage, a dynamic that promises to give each show a spiritual itinerary of its own, traveling through this world below and heading for the bright land of that new city lit by the Lamb. For ticket sales and more information, visit www.hillbillythomists.com/tour .

Proceeds from album sales , tickets , donations , and merchandise support the formation of friars at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., where The Hillbilly Thomists first came together.

Image: Photo by The Hillbilly Thomists

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Hillbilly Thomists talk about music, vocations before Aug. 4 concert

• News of the Diocese

July 26, 2022

They’re an unlikely, but popular band that just released a third record earlier this month and like the previous two, it’s doing well on the Billboard Bluegrass chart.

What’s unique about the Hillbilly Thomists is they are a group of Dominican friars. And they’re coming to Cleveland for a special performance in a free concert at 7 p.m. Aug. 4 at St. Wendelin Parish , 2281 Columbus Road, Cleveland.

But music isn’t their full-time vocation. There are eight members of the collective. Seven are participating in the band’s first tour, The Old Highway Tour. They performed July 23 in New York City and will have performances July 28 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; July 29 in Chicago, Illinois; July 31 in Cincinnati, Ohio; Aug. 1 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Cleveland concert will be their final stop. They perform in their distinctive long, white, flowing habits with a large rosary on the side.

Five of the Thomists took a break from rehearsing to share thoughts about the band, their music, their vocations and the tour.

All band members are priests and their vocations have placed them in different locations. Father Timothy is a campus minister and chaplain at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Father Justin and Father Peter Joseph are chaplains at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. Father Joseph is based at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. and Father Thomas Joseph White is the rector at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. All are affiliated with the St. Joseph or Eastern Province, the Dominican province that extends from New England to Virginia to Ohio.

The band’s roots date to 2006 when Father Thomas Joseph and Father Austin Litke began playing music together. “Others joined later to ‘professionalize’ it,” said Father Timothy.

While all the band members have some background in music, one -- Father Justin -- had a career in music before answering the call to his Dominican vocation. He grew up in the Maryland area and was in bands, including one with his sister. He has experience in indie, rock, pop and country music. Father Justin also had experience in the recording industry, including producing albums, which was helpful as the Thomists formed and recorded their first record.

Before focusing on the bluegrass genre, the friars recorded an album of chants and sacred, liturgical music performed by their schola (choir) at the House of Studies in Washington.

Their first album, released in 2017, was mostly bluegrass standards and Americana favorites. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart. Their second album, “Living for the Other Side, was released on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, the original Thomist, in 2021. The third record, “Holy Ghost Power,” was released July 7. Proceeds from album sales, donations and merchandise sales support the formation of friars at the House of Studies in Washington, Father Timothy said.

A Steubenville area native, Father Timothy said several of the friars played bluegrass and Irish music, so we put our hearts and hands together” and the Hillbilly Thomists evolved.

The Dominicans go through formation at the House of Studies in Washington, so they crossed paths there and began playing together. “Our weeknight sessions turned into performances and then recordings,” Father Timothy explained. The band played at festivals, parishes and special events in the East Coast area during the early years.

For their first tour, the friars rented a large van. The seven of them, their instruments, CDs, merchandise and shirts fill the vehicle. “But there is room for the Holy Ghost,” he added, referring to the title of their newest record.

As they travel, the band stays at Dominican parishes when possible. Although they do not have a parish in the Diocese of Cleveland, the Dominicans have ministries in Columbus and Youngstown. The order founded the first parishes in Ohio – in the Cincinnati area -- Father Timothy said. During their novitiate, he said the men travel around to familiarize themselves with the province.

During the two-hour concert, he said the audience will hear new and old compositions. “We perform Americana,” he said. Among the instruments band members play are percussion -- washboard, spoons, and cowbell -- resonator guitar, banjo, keyboard, dulcimer, mandolin, regular guitar and Dobro guitar.

“We pride ourselves on good harmonies,” he said.

Father Damian Ference, diocesan vicar for evangelization and director of Parish Life and Special Ministries, met Father Timothy as a college student and he connected with Father Thomas Joseph while pursuing his doctorate at the Angelicum in Rome. Father Ference returned to Cleveland a year ago but remained in touch with him.

The Thomists said they are looking forward to the Aug. 4 concert here. Local musician Tom Evanchuk will perform before the band takes the stage. In addition, there will be a beer tent, food trucks and ice cream. Those attending the concert should bring a lawn chair.

Bishop-elect Michael Woost, who will be ordained that afternoon, will lead the group in evening prayer in St. Wendelin Church after the concert.

“It’s going to be a great evening,” Father Ference said.

For more information on the Hillbilly Thomists, their music, merchandise and more, click here . Watch and listen to samples of their music videos here .

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The Hillbilly Thomists

The hillbilly thomists tour dates 2024.

• Aug 3, 2024 - Aug 3, 2024
• COUNTRY / FOLK

The Hillbilly Thomists recently booked a concert schedule performing at select cities in North America. As one of the top Country / Folk live performers right now, The Hillbilly Thomists will eventually be performing on stage once again for fans to attend. Have a look at the lineup below to find a show that interests you. Then, you can check out the event details, post it through Facebook and take a look at a big inventory of concert tickets. If you can't make any of the current concerts, sign up for our Concert Tracker to get alerts as soon as The Hillbilly Thomists concerts are booked in your area. The Hillbilly Thomists could release additional North American shows, so keep coming back for the latest updates.

The Hillbilly Thomists Concert Schedule

About the hillbilly thomists tour albums.

The Hillbilly Thomists showed up on to the Country / Folk scene with the debut of tour album "The Hillbilly Thomists", published on N/A. The song was instantly a hit and made The Hillbilly Thomists one of the newest great shows to witness. After the introduction of "The Hillbilly Thomists", The Hillbilly Thomists announced "Living for the Other Side" on N/A. The album "Living for the Other Side" remained one of the more admired tour albums from The Hillbilly Thomists. The Tour Albums three top tracks included , , and and are a fan favorite at every show. The Hillbilly Thomists has published 6 more tour albums since "Living for the Other Side". With over 0 years of albums, The Hillbilly Thomists best tour album has been "The Hillbilly Thomists" and some of the top concert songs are , , and .

The Hillbilly Thomists Tour Albums and Songs

The Hillbilly Thomists: The Hillbilly Thomists

• Leaning on the Everl...
• What Woud You Give i...
• Poor Wayfaring Stranger
• Amazing Grace
• St. Anne's Reel
• What a Friend We Hav...
• What Wondrous Love I...
• To Canaan's Land
• Just a Closer Walk w...

The Hillbilly Thomists: Living for the Other Side

• Keep Your Lamps Trimmed
• Our Help Is in the N...
• Bourbon, Bluegrass, ...
• Give Me a Drink
• Heaven or Tennessee
• Jericho Blues
• Chasing Money No More
• I Heard the Voice of...
• Lead Me by the Hand
• Jacob's Ladder
• You Will Still Walk ...

The Hillbilly Thomists: Holy Ghost Power

• Holy Ghost Power
• Love Is Patient
• The Power & The Glory
• Old Highway
• Satisfied Man
• Way Down in New Orleans
• Floodwaters
• Sweet Prospect

The Hillbilly Thomists: undefined

The hillbilly thomists: amazon music, the hillbilly thomists concert tour questions & comments, the hillbilly thomists tour and concert ticket information.

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The Hillbilly Thomists Top Tour Album

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The Hillbilly Thomists reach #5 on Billboard with new album

The Hillbilly Thomists have reached #5 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart just two weeks after releasing their third studio album, Holy Ghost Power . In the wake of such an achievement, the celebrated folk band of the Order of Preachers has released a music video for their new song, “Old Highway.” 

Holy Ghost Power is a fantastic new album that shows off just what this excellent team of religious musicians can do. The record, which puts on display a wide breadth of acoustic styles, quickly landed the #9 spot on Billboard’s chart in their first week. Since then it has only grown in popularity, moving up to #5 in week two. At this pace we fully expect Holy Ghost Power to claim the #1 spot by early August. 

“Old Highway”

Their latest video release is of their new song “Old Highway,” a title they borrowed for their upcoming Old Highway Tour. The recording is a live session filmed before a campfire, giving it an impromptu aesthetic . It begins with a solitary singer playing guitar, but as each of the Dominicans pick up his instrument the viewer knows they’re in for a treat. 

The first thing that struck us about this recording is how The Hillbilly Thomists switched up their positions. This is one of the benefits of having a band full of talented multi-instrumentalists. For example, Fr. Justin Bolger can be seen playing upright bass, which is quite a change from his usual placement on rhythm guitar. 

Meanwhile, Fr. Thomas Joseph White, who provides a great country vocal, put aside his banjo in favor of a resonator guitar. This swap works especially well as White was able to seamlessly transition his fingerpicking to the steel instrument. The song is made all the more laid-back by a solo played with a slide on a lap guitar. This style was developed in the Pacific islands, but it works so well in country and folk music.

Old Highway Tour

The Hillbilly Thomists are excited to announce that they are taking their powerful music and fervent faith on a new tour . For The Old Highway Tour, the band says that they’re hitting the road with “a tank full of Americana favorites, Bluegrass standards, and original songs.” 

Tickets are already sold out for their Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati shows, but there are a bunch of other stops on the Old Highway Tour for which they’re still available. On July 23, they’ll be at St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Manhattan, and when they make their way over to Chicago, they’ll liven up the Athenaeum Center on July 29. 

The tour will also include free concerts as well. On July 28, they’ll be in Pittsburgh, where they’ll play a free show to raise funds for Nature of Fire and The Port ministries . By August 1, they’ll be headlining at the 140th Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus in Nashville. Finally, on August 4, they’ll bring their Catholic tones to Cleveland’s St. Wendelin Church .

Free concerts are great, but even paying for tickets is a bargain for this tour. At many of their stops the Hillbilly Thomists are scheduled to perform for a staggering three-and-a-half hours . This is unheard of for most bands, and even if they take a healthy intermission, they’re bound to play just about every song they know to fill up such a large slot. 

It’s clear that the Hillbilly Thomists love what they do and this love stems from the merging of their faith and their art. The mission of joyful witness is always at the center of the Dominican bluegrass band’s work, and this translates to extensive and jubilant concerts. The Hillbilly Thomists explained what to expect from their performances and their new album: 

“Flowing from the Dominican friars’ life of contemplation, study, and preaching, the 13 tracks of Holy Ghost Power sing of redeeming love and old-time religion, Diet Coke and Original Sin, pilgrimage and the sweet prospect of the life that awaits beyond the River Jordan’s stormy banks. They’re songs for people who are made of a little bit of angel and a little bit of dust.” Click here to listen to Holy Ghost Power . Follow the Hillbilly Thomists on YouTube.

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Rockin’ Out with Dominican Friars: The Hillbilly Thomists Talk ‘Holy Ghost Power,’ Aquinas and Music of the Soul

Speaking to the lived experience of Christ, band members chat with the Register about their new album and ‘100 channels of nothing on the TV at 10. It’s like diet coke and original sin’

Alyssa Murphy, July 7, 2022

It has been five years since The Hillbilly Thomists released their first self-titled album that soared to the top of the bluegrass Billboard charts, offering a mixture of original music, some Americana favorites, and beautiful harmonies that never age. The band is out today with its third album,  Holy Ghost Power , and the Register sat down virtually with  Father Thomas Joseph White , one of the founding members of the band, alongside  Father Simon Teller  and  Father Peter Gautsch,  to learn more about this new album created in the quiet chaos of a quarantine. The band shares insights into the album, secrets about their “Old Highway Tour” kicking off this summer, and how music, since it starts in the soul, is actually one of the best ways to speak to the soul, as the Dominican friars set out to evangelize, instruments in hand.

Father, the new album,  Holy Ghost Power , out today, comes just a few short weeks after Pentecost. Is this just a coincidence? What’s behind the name of the album?

Father Thomas Joseph White : Well, it’s the lead song on the album, and I think we wanted to kind of [give] an unambiguous illusion both to Americana Christian music and also to our kind of unique style of combining Catholic theology with folk music, bluegrass music.

I guess Don McLean comes to mind a little bit, with American Pie .

Father Thomas Joseph White : He gets a reference on the album.

Father Simon Teller : It’s a little different in style from  American Pie .

Father Peter Gautsch : It’s more like “punch in your face” style.

So nobody is out down near the river holding anything — that’s great. Now, The Hillbilly Thomists first started at the Dominican House of Studies, situated in the presence of the National Shrine to our Blessed Mother — in an area many consider to be “Little Roma,” really, in our nation’s capital. Can you tell us about the origin of the band?

Father Thomas Joseph White:  Well, I think the biggest thing was that we started playing music kind of as an amusement; you know, for fun, as a way to relax during fraternal events, sometimes on the weekends. And then a number of members of the band entered who had tremendous musical paths, like Father Peter Gautsch, Father Simon Teller, both with us today, and Father Justin Bolger. And they really reconstituted the band, I would say, on a high level of expertise of harmonies and settings and solos, and we just started working on more complex routines and music. It was always fun, but it got a little more technical. And then when we decided to do an album, all those kinds of professional sentiments came out. The albums are always fun to record, but there’s also a kind of wonderful seriousness about the professionalism of the people in the band based on their past experience. And so it just formed organically over time.

And Father Thomas Joseph, you play the banjo, correct? 

Father Thomas Joseph White:  I play the banjo and the steel guitar and the dulcimer. Father Simon here plays the fiddle. Father Peter Gautsch plays about five or six instruments on this album: He plays the mandolin, the slide guitar, the harmonica, the guitar and the piano, to name just a few. And then we also have people who play upright bass, we have the drummer, some guitarists and so forth.

That’s wonderful. We should also get to the root of the name, The Hillbilly Thomists; some may not be familiar with Flannery O’Connor. Can you tell us what’s behind the name?

Father Peter Gautsch : It’s a reference to a letter that Flannery O’Connor wrote. So in addition to her many short stories and her two novels, she has a collection of wonderful letters. And one of the letters, she says, “Everyone who’s read my novel,  Wise Blood , l thinks I’m a hillbilly nihilist. But actually, I’m a hillbilly thomist.” And, of course, as one who follows, as a sort of follower of the teaching of Thomas Aquinas and his method of theology, his approach to, kind of like sapiential approach to, theology, as really coming to understand God and everything that God creates [that makes sense]. And she loves Thomas Aquinas; she used to read him at night, when she was sort of preparing for bed, and would read some of the  Summa  each day and make references to his work in her letters and in other places. So she was a lover of St. Thomas Aquinas, who, of course, was a Dominican. So, we, too, are lovers of St. Thomas Aquinas; and given her sort of Southern sensibilities, in the Southern character of some of our music, being from the Bluegrass country tradition a bit … it seemed a perfect name for our group.

It’s interesting. I first spoke to then-Brother Simon Teller when the first album broke in 2017, just before the album topped the bluegrass Billboard charts. And this was when the Thomistic Institute was beginning to really thrive on college campuses across the country. You also now offer a “Tiny Thomist” program for children as young as toddlers. Of course, you are all steeped in the  Summa Theologica. but not many are. If someone is interested in learning about this great saint and doctor of the Church, what do you recommend as an introduction?

Father Thomas Joseph White: Oh, well, they should go and enroll in “Aquinas 101” online. There’s a program of the Thomistic Institute that gives everybody an introduction to Aquinas in seven-minute video segments, with accompanying readings if you want them — they’re really accessible — very popular with millions of viewers. “Aquinas 101” has its own website; you can subscribe. And everything is free.

That’s such a great resource because so many people imagine St. Thomas Aquinas to be intangible, too high-minded thought to even reach. And all the work you guys are doing is really bridging that gap. Even with The Hillbilly Thomists, you think, is that an oxymoron? And I think that St. Thomas Aquinas can offer a real anchor right now, with so many people attempting to cling to logic, strictly knowledge or facts. And St. Thomas Aquinas did not run away from any of that — but really delved much deeper into what we can know from our heads before reaching into the heart. 

Father Simon Teller:  That’s right. I think also one of the geniuses of St. Thomas is that the truth that he teaches at its heart is accessible to everybody, because it’s rooted in the truth of reality. And one of the great things about Father Thomas Joseph as a songwriter is that his songs just speak directly to the lived experience of someone who’s really trying to live out their faith. So there’s a great line from the  Holy Ghost Power  song that he wrote:“It’s 100 channels of nothing on the TV at 10. It’s like diet coke and original sin.”Everybody’s had that experience of just feeling bottomed out and … coming to feel like, where is the meaning in life? And that — the truth of St. Thomas that he teaches and God, and the Gospel — is really common sense, in a lot of ways. And also, I think that we’re surprisingly, like, in a large part a children’s musical group, just because so many families listen to our music. … We get emails from theologians who are really excited about The Hillbilly Thomists, and we get a lot of emails from home-school moms who are really excited about The Hillbilly Thomists.

It really goes to show the range and the full accessibility and the real heart. I think one thing that’s unique about this album was that it was created in the midst of a pandemic. And you also released an online “Quarantine Sessions,” where you all are creating music in isolation, really, including this beautiful song Seeing, Redeeming Love . And what a moment to watch this, as you see all of you playing together. The moment when you all come in listening, waiting to be in harmony together from your separate quarters, your distant cities, all finding the same pulse.   And I just thought, “What a true testimony to the living Christ who is brimming in all of us, just waiting to come out.” And I think that really touches on what you’re saying: about the core unit of the family and what we’re trying to create together as community.

Father Thomas Joseph White : I think that’s a beautiful observation. One thing we find in the band is that working together as brothers in the same religious society, where we pray together during the day and break for prayer, and also have to, of course, cook together and do the whole production as a team is that it deepens our fraternal life and our sense of our kind of Christian communion. It’s interesting to go from Eucharistic communion into a studio and try to work together on songs that we love and that we want to be creative about and professional about. And that is a kind of just pure gift of fraternal creativity for the Church and also for our own Dominican life. So we feel that very deeply, and we’re really touched that so many home-school families have chosen to prioritize the music in their own life, for their children, as a resource for them.

Shifting back to the album, there’s a beautiful song called Good Tree . Can you tell us the inspiration behind this song? 

Father Peter Gautsch : Father Justin Bolger wrote that song, and he is here in Providence with Father Simon and myself; he’s the head chaplain of campus ministry here, and he and I have played a lot of music. The two of us, since we’ve both been together in campus ministry this year, we were sitting down. I guess it wasn’t too, too long before we got together to record last summer. And he said, they wanted to show me this new song. And so he just had his guitar, and it was sort of — it was a fairly simple arrangement of the song and very catchy, and so he sort of just listened to it a little bit and played around with it a little bit and, and, I said, “Well, we’ve got to record this with everyone.” And so when we all came together to record, it really grew. So the version of it that’s in that video, which we put out a few days ago, is a live recording: You’re seeing us performing the song, sort of as you’re hearing it. And so it’s slightly different audio than the album version, which really does grow into this really kind of triumphant sounding [song]. I mean, it’s a very joyful-sounding song. And it’s full of the joy of the Gospel. I think this is one of the things I love about this song: that it’s for the joy of the Gospel. It’s very rich in the way that it uses this imagery from all over Scripture about the tree, which is nourished by the living waters and provides shade for the birds of the air … but it also has this hope that I want to be this good. The refrain of the song is: “Oh, to be a good tree, oh, to be a good tree.” … And so it’s a beautiful combination, I think, of the joy of the Gospel and of the joy of the hope that we have in the grace of Christ, who transforms us to be “good trees.” So I think it’s a real testament to his songwriting and also just to the richness of the Gospel.

I have to say, I own the other two albums, but the first one is definitely my favorite — so many songs of Americana being shared — but I think my favorite is perhaps a song, I believe, written by Father Justin also,  I’m Just a Dog for My Lord.  I have that album on in the car all the time. And my daughter loves it. It’s just a real heart-filled moment in the car, and the lyrics: “spreading fire while I got Earth… and how you wish, it was already lit …’ but here you are still working away. There’s such a steadfast trust shared in that song. But speaking of dogs, can we dig into why the Dominicans are known as “Hounds of the Lord”?

Father Thomas Joseph White : Absolutely. So the background for that is that, apparently, bless Joan of Aza, the mother of St. Dominic, had a dream right before he was born, that there was a dog kicking in her womb. And then she saw in the dream the dog, after it was born, so to speak, running around Europe with a torch in its mouth. And this is seen as a prophetic dream of St. Dominic, who would be one of the first mendicant friars traveling from place to place, preaching the Gospel; “Hound of the Lord,” going abroad and bringing the fire of the truth. Now, it’s also the case that, in Latin, Dominus (Lord) and canis, the word for “dog,” can be put together so you have Domini Canes or “dogs of the Lord.” The pun plays off of the title for the Dominicans.

How fascinating — just even knowing that song now, it just speaks much more loudly. Now, The Hillbilly Thomists have also just released tour dates for “The Old Highway Tour.” Can you tell us about it? I feel like this is the epitome of the New Evangelization: rocking out with Dominican friars.

Father Thomas Joseph White:  The whole notion of “The Old Highway Tour” comes from one of the songs on the album,  Old Highway . This is a song I wrote which is sort of a story of mystical Vagrant, for lack of a better term, who is a person who has abandoned his ordinary social responsibilities to travel America and find God. So it’s a somewhat zany song, although it has a kind of a, I think, haunting resonance to it. There’s a slight homage, perhaps, to Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash in the album, in terms of the style, and Peter has a tremendous solo on the slide guitar in the midst of this piece. So it’s a kind of haunting traveling piece about driving west on Highway 66 in America. And so I think the band just spontaneously named the tour after this idea of traveling, seeking God, playing music, that kind of thing.

And this is the first tour for the band? 

Father Simon Teller : This is our first tour, so we’re really excited about this, because before, a couple of years ago, before the pandemic, we would play at Appaloosa, in Virginia, and we would do a couple local shows around D.C. every once in a while. But we’ve never really had any sustained public performances. And this is really the first time that we’ll be putting on true concerts. … So, yeah, this will be our first tour, and we’re really excited about it because we can also bring our music to places outside of the D.C. area, which is where the band came together from the Dominican House of Studies. We’re going to, like you said, New York; we’re going to Cleveland, to Cincinnati, to Nashville, to Chicago, to Pittsburgh. … It’s really great to be able to bring our music to the people who love it.

As you all eloquently state on the press release for the tour: “A band like none other, The Hillbilly Thomists remain friars, preachers even when on the stage, a dynamic that promises to give each show a spiritual itinerary of its own, passing through this world below unto the bright land of that new city lit by the Lamb.”   Can you speak a little bit about that kind of witness?

Father Peter Gautsch : Well, I think that, especially for our last album, in this next album, most of the, if almost all of the, songs are original songs, which has given us, I think, some more freedom as preachers to preach with the music that we perform for people and that we record. Because there’s some good things to meditate on. And a lot of the Americana standards, and the ones we chose for our first album were chosen kind of for that reason. But to be writing our own songs and performing those now for people more has given us, I think, increased a number of avenues for reaching people. And so … the ability to bring music to people on a tour, as a certain mode of preaching … we do remain friars, preachers, even when we’re on stage; it is really exciting to be able to both bring the music that we’re really excited about to people, but to preach to them. I mean, that’s what we’re called to do. It’s said of St. Dominic that he always spoke to God or about God, and he encouraged his brothers to do the same. So as much fun as the music is, we intend it to be spiritually edifying for people and helpful. And we’re hoping that the tour will be an occasion for us to be able to do that through the music.

A big theme of the Pope’s latest papal document focuses on liturgy. How do you think the mission of The Hillbilly Thomists may help draw attention to the importance of music, in our own faith lives as well as even at Mass?

Father Simon Teller:  Like Father Peter said, our music is a preaching ministry of our province, of the Dominican province, St. Joseph, and one of the great things about this preaching ministry through music is that it shows the different ways in which music can function within the Christian life. … There’s music that we use in our formal liturgical worship. But there’s also ways in which we just sing to praise the Lord. There’s music that functions within the Christian life outside of the liturgy. And I think that that’s where, definitely in our Dominican tradition, we place The Hillbilly Thomists kind of music, where, it came from our fraternal life of playing music together, in the recreation room, and I think we really bring it into other people’s living rooms and into their hearts in that way.

As you all know, here, of course, in this country, the United States,  Roe v. Wade  was just reversed. And we have the country here half celebrating, half mourning, or worse: vandalizing Catholic churches as well as pro-life pregnancy centers. We are a bit fractured at the moment in our own country. And music holds such a power in bringing people together, and your music is quite a testimony to that. Improvisation is also such an important part of a jamming band. You all ultimately find the same pulse, but it might take a few seconds to get there …

Father Thomas Joseph White : When we play music together, the creativity of one person spurs the creativity of another, and one of the things that’s obvious about this whole process for us is that when we bring material, whether it’s songs or solos, or ideas, you can find the complementarity, leaping out of another person’s creative imagination and then taking the thing further. And so the compilation of everyone playing together is far more profound and rich than any singular effort. But I think that that’s true in general about cooperation among human beings in creative and political life. Inviting people to collaborate with the Catholic mission in the Catholic Church and inviting people in the broader culture to collaborate in the renewal of culture is a key theme in our own Catholic lives, and music is a way that you can go beyond some of the normal frontiers of conversation about morality, politics and religion and enter into another kind of conversation, another kind of collaboration around the enjoyment of Beauty and the celebration of life that’s embodied in human music.

Well, that is a beautiful note to end on, Father; thank you all for joining us today — and thank you again for your music that inspires and uplifts so many. 

Father Thomas Joseph White:  Thanks for saying that. That means a lot.

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On this great Eurasian journey from West to East you will cover the entire route of the Trans-Siberian Railway, visiting four major cities along the way: Russia's capital Moscow, Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, Irkutsk including incredible Lake Baikal, and finally Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean, at the very edge of Russia.

• Route Moscow - Yekaterinburg - Irkutsk - Vladivostok

Highlights on the Trans-Sib

This tour is a great choice for seeing the highlights of Russia, Mongolia and China. From Golden-Domed Moscow you will continue on to Irkutsk and visit beautiful Lake Baikal. Mongolia will greet you with its endless steppes and the Gobi Desert. Finally, you will reach China and visit the magnificent Great Wall, Ming Tombs and Forbidden city.

• Schedule Tour can be started on any Monday
• Route Moscow - Irkutsk - Ulan Bator - Beijing

The Great Journey - East to West

This trip lasts for 2 weeks and passes through 6 fascinating cities. Starting in Vladivostok with its harbour of the Golden Horn and passing through the Buddhist city of Ulan-Ude, then to Irkutsk - home of magnificent Lake Baikal and onto Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg - very dynamic Siberian cities, and finally ending in golden-domed Moscow.

• Route Vladivostok - Ulan-Ude - Irkutsk - Novosibirsk - Yekaterinburg - Moscow

5 stars - East to West

This tour covers the highlights of the Trans-Siberian Railway - including all 5 major cities along its route. You will admire cultural masterpieces in Beijing, learn about nomadic life in Mongolia, see amazing Lake Baikal in Irkutsk, learn about the fate of the Last Tsar in Yekaterinburg, and visit Russia's energetic capital Moscow.

• Schedule Tour can be started on any Thursday.
• Route Beijing - Ulaanbaatar - Irkutsk - Yekaterinburg - Moscow

Trans-Sib through Russia - Mongolia - China

This exciting Trans-Siberian tour takes you to three countries - Russia, Mongolia and China. From Moscow you will proceed to the Siberian cities of Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk, close to Lake Baikal. Then you will cross Mongolia with its endless steppes and the Goby Desert, and finally arrive in China with the Great Wall and more.

• Schedule Tour can be started on any Saturday
• Route Moscow - Yekaterinburg - Novosibirsk - Irkutsk - Ulaanbaatar - Beijing

Journey of a Lifetime

The tour is a great opportunity to visit three countries on one trip. You will be delighted with the capital of Russia, see the border of Europe and Asia in Yekaterinburg, admire beautiful nature in Krasnoyarsk, see the world's largest lake Baikal, steppes of Mongolia and China's cultural heritage.

• Route Moscow - Yekaterinburg - Krasnoyarsk - Irkutsk - Ulaanbaatar - Beijing

My wife & I have just completed the Journey of a Lifetime 16 day 15 night Trip as organised by Express to Russia. We also had a tour of St Petersburg & Moscow as well. The planning & execution of both trips was well above our expectations. The guides we had in all of our destinations were exceptional & the meet & greet & return to the stations went as smooth as clockwork. We had one minor hitch but that was through no fault of Express to Russia..a quick email from our Ipad had the problem resolved immediately We did have some misgivings at the start about doing the booking online ourselves but Elena was wonderful & answered all of our questions promptly & to our satisfaction. We felt comfortable with the whole process.The train trip is wonderful with Mongolia being a "special " place for us! We highly recommend Elena & her company. I am happy to answer any questions any body may wish to ask.

Thank you so very much for organizing our trip. Everything went wonderfully, and we really enjoyed our time in Russia. Moscow was beautiful, Lake Baikal was very cold, yet very fun to swim in, and the DPR Koreans that I met and made friends with in Vladivostok was beyond priceless. The guides you got for us did an exceptional job, and the drivers helped us out a lot as well. The hotels you got for us were great, and the room you got for us in the Vladivostok really made the long stay comfortable. The trains were also very enjoyable as was the Russian hospitality, although we really weren´t expecting people to be so generous or helpful. Overall, the trip was wonderful, and you arranged it magnificently. You really went out of your way to accommodate my schedule and help me with my schoolwork, so I really appreciate it; I couldn´t have done it without you. So once again, thank you for all of your efforts, and hopefully in the future you will be able to help us out again. Take care, and thank you for everything.

The Trans-Siberian Express is the longest train journey in the world. The route takes you from ancient Russian cities through deep forests and breathtaking mountains to Siberian outposts and into Asia. You will visit Buddhist temples , Lake Baikal , the Ural Mountains , Vladivostok or Beijing . Express to Russia is a specialist in travel for individuals and small groups along the route. We will make sure that you have an unforgettable journey on this incredible adventure. Choose basic packages below or contact us to arrange your own custom travel.

Our Russian tours are offered as land only where you arrange your own airfare and we meet you at the airport and handle everything else. You can easily book the discount tickets yourself through our own discount internet ticket office . Please browse our discount air tickets section to learn more.

Trans-Siberian Train

The main route of the Trans-Siberian Railway begins in Moscow and heads east to Vladivostok passing through Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ulan Ude, Chita, Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk. The length of the route is 9259 km or 5753 miles. The train travels through 7 time zones and takes 8 days to complete without making overnight stops. The Trans-Siberian splits off into a few other fascinating directions as well:

Trans-Mongolian Train

The Trans-Mongolian Line was built from 1940 to 1956 between Ulan-Ude at Lake Baikal’s eastern shore and the Chinese capital Beijing. From Ulan-Ude the tracks go south towards Mongolia, crossing the great Gobi Desert and finally ending up in Beijing. This route is a mere 7867 kilometers long (Moscow - Beijing).

Trans-Manchurian Train

The Trans-Manchurian Line runs on the same route as the Trans-Siberian as far as Tarskaya, which is a few hundred miles east of Baikal. From Tarskaya, the line runs southeast into China near Zabaikalsk and makes its way down to Beijing. This route is a 9001 kilometres long (Moscow - Beijing).

Click to learn more about the history of the Trans-Siberian Railway .

Frequently Asked Questions From Our Travelers

Where does the trans-siberian railway start and where does it end.

The Trans-Siberian Railway starts in Moscow and extends all the way to Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean. This route connects the European part of Russia, the Ural region, Siberia and the Russian Far East.

Are Beijing and Ulan Bator stops along the Trans-Siberian railway?

Beijing and Ulan Bator are parts of Trans-Mongolian railway - an offshoot of the main Trans-Siberian Railway. There are many options to arrange your travel: to visit Ulan Bator and or follow the Trans-Siberian railway to or from Vladivostok. 

Can I use the hop-on hop-off principle when traveling by Trans-Siberian train?

Unfortunately, that is not possible. Train tickets in Russia are not open, so you will need a separate ticket with a particular date for each leg of your trip - for example, you may go all the way from Moscow to Vladivostok, but you will only be able to leave the train for short stops at the railway stations. In case if you would like to explore different cities on the way, you will need separate tickets, for example Moscow – Yekaterinburg, Yekaterinburg – Irkutsk, Irkutsk - Vladivostok. We offer carefully planned private tours that will allow you to visit several cities on your way.

Are there showers aboard Trans-Siberian trains?

Most of the Trans-Siberian trains do not have showers, and there are two WCs per each carriage. Please consider it while planning your trip. We recommend to choose shorter distances (that is, to plan more overnight stops in the cities along the way) to avoid the inconvenience of not showering. Another option is to choose the trip on board a more luxurious train which has all the on-board amenities that one might need.

Are meals included on the board of Trans-Siberian express train?

When traveling with RZD regular trains meals are not included. You can easily buy your meals in the restaurant car.  Another option is to buy local specialties from “babushkas” (grandmothers, or simply Russian old ladies) on the short train stops along the way. This is a very authentic way of getting your meals.

What is the most comfortable way to travel on the Trans-Siberian railroad?

There are luxurious trains on the Trans-Siberian railway that are quite different from regular RZD trains and can be described as 5* hotels on wheels. We offer this type of accommodation on the Imperial Russia train where you can enjoy a full board menu, a shower and a comfortable compartment.

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Express to Russia

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